Courses
Every year the PhD School organizes a number of intensive (20-hour) courses, some of them held by prominent national and international experts. The courses are often publicized by the member of the PhD board through the channels of the National Groups and are open freely for PhD students of other Universities. The courses range from advanced mathematics and physics to engineering topics. These courses are divided in 2 groups: Group 1 includes course of general interest, e.g., of advanced Mathematics, Physics, Numerical Calculus, Operation Research, etc. Group 2 includes specialistic courses of main interest of certain curricula.
During the first year, the students must take two courses in Group 1, two courses in Group 2, and one "free" course. Free courses can be chosen among all courses, but also from PhD programs of other universities (in particular University of Pisa) or programs of national summer schools or International PhD schools (for instance link to European School of Antennas). During the second year students must choose one course among all courses and two free courses. Third year students must choose two free courses.
All courses have a duration of 20-30 hours, and foreseen a written or oral assessment test for the accreditation. This test is often faced after the course, in order to give to the students the possibility to mature the concepts learned during the course.

Study Plan Admission to the second year successive years and to the final exam
In December of each year the PhD students have to chose and submit the study plan to the Director of the PhD school for approval.
In order to be admitted to the second year each student should have followed the courses declared in the study plan and passed the accreditation test associated with all of them. The free courses should have a final assestment test also if followed outside. PhD students are encouraged to follow additional specific courses with respect to those of the study plan; in this case assessment text is not mandatory.
For admission from the second to the third year, and to the third to the final exam, the PhD students have to present a report of their research activity and the status of the courses of the previous year(s). The report is done following a specific template. The report is presented to the board by the advisor of the student in the October meeting of the board.
The board decide directly about the admission to the final exam and gives the opinion about the research activity of students of the second year. If the opinion is negative, the PhD student is not admitted to the Third year and he is excluded from the school. If the opinion is favorable, the final admission to the third year is decided by the PhD Board after the output of the Poster Day.

Poster Day
At the end of the second year the students have also to make a presentation in front of the PhD board. The presentation is performed interactively during a “Poster Day” held in December, at the end of which the PhD board has a meeting to confirm or less the admission of the student at the third year.